Jail term imposed for drug charges

A TRAINEE chef’s clean criminal history kept her from serving actual time in custody after pleading guilty to a raft of serious offences committed while in the grips of a severe drug addiction.

When a search warrant was executed at a Murphys Creek address about 3pm on May 20 last year, police found Merryn Jayne Hampel with a pipe encrusted with a white substance, Toowoomba Magistrates Court was told.

After she was instructed to stand up and move away from the table she was sitting at, a large plastic bag containing a crystal substance fell to the floor, police prosecutor Anita Page said.

Analysis of the bag’s contents revealed 12g of methylamphetamine, with 8.43g of the drug recorded at 77 per cent purity.

Ms Page told the court a month later on June 23 police executed a search warrant on the 43-year-old’s Rangeville home where she was caught in possession of about 1g of methylamphetamine concealed among craft supplies in the kitchen.

Weeks later on August 5, Hampel was again caught up in a police raid when about 6.30am a search warrant was executed on the Rangeville property.

The court was told police spoke to Hampel, who was standing beside a bed, and removed car keys and a mobile phone from her handbag on the floor.

Ms Page said while Hampel handed over the keys to police, she said her phone was flat and then hid it in the front pocket of the robe she was wearing.

As police continued to search the property they instructed Hampel to hand over her phone, but she told police she had put it down and didn’t know where it was.

The court was told Hampel was also detected driving with methylamphetamine in her system on October 8 and February 9 this year.

In total, Hampel pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including possessing dangerous drugs, contravening an order about information necessary to access information stored electronically and drug driving.

Hampel’s solicitor Dan Creevey told the court his client had no previous criminal history, but spiralled into drug addiction after she discovered the body of a friend’s 22-yearold nephew under her house, after the man had stayed with her to try and get off drugs himself.

Mr Creevey also told the court his client was a mother of two, and had been undergoing drug rehabilitation through Lives Lived Well.

Magistrate Kay Ryan imposed a four month jail term, suspended for 12 months, with 18 months probation. Hampel was disqualified from driving for three years.